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9C Girls: Field is deep and talented this week

Beeters out to defend their 9C girls title at the HHS gymnasium

Year in and year out, the District 9C girls basketball tournament is one of the toughest. Even as the field has shrunk over the years, getting out on top of the 9C is no easy task.

That will be the case again when six Hi-Line squads converge on the Havre High gymnasium for the four-day 9C girls tournament. The action gets underway Wednesday afternoon and runs through Saturday night’s championship game.

Chinook (17-1) enters the 9C tourney as the defending champion and a heavy favorite to repeat. The Sugarbeeters, and legendary head coach Charlie Robinson, have been a stalwart in the 9C for years now, and the 2013-14 team might be one of their best.

Chinook went undefeated in the 9C regular season, though the Beeters got pushed by the likes of North Star and Big Sandy. Still, with senior center Makhayla Farmer (6-2) and Tavin Schneider (6-1) forming a huge inside presence, and veteran scorers like Emily Dennis, Brooke Nicholson, Katelyn Neibauer and Hannah Weber adding depth, the top-seeded Beeters will be tough to beat this week.

Still, the Knights and Pioneers have the talent to have a say in what happens this week inside the HHS gymnasium.

North Star (13-5) earned the No. 2 seed, and its only 9C losses in the regular season came at the hands of the Beeters. Second-year head coach Griff Bye’s team returns plenty of firepower from last year’s squad which finished second in the 9C and fourth at the Northern C. Senior Bettie Carlon leads the team in scoring, but she gets plenty of help from Mackenzie Hansen and others.

North Star will have a bye in the first round and will face either Big Sandy (10-8) or Hays-Lodge Pole(0-18) in the semifinals Thursday night. The Pioneers go into this year’s 9C tourney with plenty of optimism, especially considering they have a veteran team led by double-digit scorers Molly Herron and Brooke Leader. Their game against the winless Thunderbirds, who are led by Cory Carrywater and Treaunna Stiffarm tips off at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday night. HLP will have a hard time keeping up with any 9C team this week, as the T-Birds only average 16 points per game. Meanwhile, Big Sandy has aspirations that go well beyond just beating HLP Wednesday night.

“Well, we obviously are looking to go to divisionals so that would mean we need to make it out of the semifinal game on top,” Big Sandy head coach Serena Cator said. “We need to do the small things in order to do that. Focus on doing the right things at the right time, getting the rebounds in crucial situations, taking care of the ball, making smart shot selections and having patience on offense, as well as playing aggressive defense. But then again, these are things that you need to do every time you play. So basically, we just need to play our game.”

Box Elder (10-8) could be the wildcard at this week’s tournament. The Bears face off against Turner in the opening game of the event Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. The bears are still a young team, though they played in the 9C consolation game a year ago. And while they are undersized, they have plenty of scoring power, led by Leilani Gardipee and Alicia Wolf Chief.

Meahwhile, it’s been a season of improvements in Turner. The Tornadoes won three regular season game and swept HLP during the regular season. Led by Ella Billmeyer’s 16 points per game, the Tornadoes are much more equipped to compete in the 9C tournament than they were a year ago. And their goal will be to win a game this week, and from there, anything can happen. The winner of Wednesday’s game will meet Chinook in the first girls semifinal Thursday at 1 p.m.

But as improved as Turner has been, the 9C’s top four teams will make it tough on anybody else in the field. Chinook is the favorite no doubt, but North Star, Big sandy and Box Elder have already proven that they are all teams that will have to be dealt with this week. And with just two spots to the Northern C Divisional on the line, the quality and depth this week in Havre will make for an exciting week.

“The 9C is always an exciting time for north central Montana,” Veteran Box Elder head coach Joel Rosette said. “And I expect all the teams to be playing at their best. I would hope our team is peaking at the right time.”

The 2014 District 9C girls tournament gets underway Wednesday at 1 p.m. and will run through Saturday night’s championship game, which will tip off at 6 p.m. at the HHS gymnasium. The top two teams from the 9C will move on to next week’s Northern C Divisional in Great Falls.

 

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